African Fashion Foundation hosts first Kayeyei Collaboration Showcase
African Fashion Foundation (AFF) in partnership
with The Lotte and the Adonai Children’s Development Foundation (ACDF) presented
the inaugural Kayayei Collaboration Collection at the Glitz Africa Fashion Week
2020. AFF created this project to empower, equip and encourage young street
females by pairing them up with some great talent in the fashion accessory and
garment industry in West Africa for a skills exchange programme. With the
support of the ACDF in finding and nurturing those that needed the support
especially during this global COVID19 pandemic; the aim was to present a
collaborative new collection alongside Accra’s infamous concept store – The
Lotte. The young street women and porters (Kayayei) were working in the
designers’ studios and trained in key sewing and production skills all whilst
contributing to a collection that will be showcased internationally.
This project is a social impact venture to
empower the Kayayei woman and show a way that fashion can be used for good.
This inaugural collection will kickstart an ongoing partnership with The Adonai
Children Development Foundation and the Kayayei women to equip them with key
skills and reintegrate them back into the community.
The pilot project was done with Ophelia
Crosslands and Velma’s Millinery & Accessories who kindly took on Gifty
Alazoe (a young kayayei, mother of 1) and trained her in beading and basic
sewing and millinery skills. She was able to use these skills to contribute to
the limited edition Kayayei collection that was created. The
final collections will be made available for purchase exclusively at The Lotte
retail space. The showcase at the Glitz
Africa Fashion Week 2020 was evidence of a successful project and AFF will be providing
ongoing support for the participating kayayei women as well working on making
this a continuous, scalable and sustainable initiative. Gifty Alazoe will be
continuing her AFF sponsored internship with Velma’s Millinery &
Accessories for another year
Visit http://www.africanfashionfoundation.com/ to
learn how you can contribute to this initiative and find more information about
the project and partners.
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